L1 acquisition of noun ellipsis in French and in Dutch
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Petra Sleeman
Abstract
In the literature several theoretical analyses of nominal ellipsis of various languages have been proposed. In this exploratory and comparative study the L1 French and Dutch acquisition of noun ellipsis is analyzed. The L1 data suggest that a theoretical analysis of the licensing mechanisms of nominal ellipsis should take the following observations into account. First, the acquisition of nominal ellipsis by French and Dutch children proceeds essentially in the same way, even though the adult languages differ. Second, as proposed in previous studies, not the presence of a determiner or inflection but the presence of an element with a partitive meaning seems to be a crucial factor in the licensing mechanism.
Abstract
In the literature several theoretical analyses of nominal ellipsis of various languages have been proposed. In this exploratory and comparative study the L1 French and Dutch acquisition of noun ellipsis is analyzed. The L1 data suggest that a theoretical analysis of the licensing mechanisms of nominal ellipsis should take the following observations into account. First, the acquisition of nominal ellipsis by French and Dutch children proceeds essentially in the same way, even though the adult languages differ. Second, as proposed in previous studies, not the presence of a determiner or inflection but the presence of an element with a partitive meaning seems to be a crucial factor in the licensing mechanism.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
- A’-dependencies in French 1
- The irregular forms of the Italian “Passato Remoto” 17
- On the lack of stranded negated quantifiers and inverse scope of negation in Romance 59
- Evidence for the competition-based analysis of subjunctive obviation from relative and adverbial clauses in Italian 75
- Quotative expansions 93
- Datives, prepositions, and argument structure in Spanish 125
- A typology of agreement processes and its implications for language development 143
- On the syntax of focalizers in some Italo-Romance dialects 157
- The phonotactics of word-initial clusters in Romance 175
- Double object constructions in Spanish (and Catalan) revisited 193
- Cognitive economy, non-redundancy and typological primacy in L3 acquisition 217
- L1 acquisition of noun ellipsis in French and in Dutch 249
- Index 267
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
- A’-dependencies in French 1
- The irregular forms of the Italian “Passato Remoto” 17
- On the lack of stranded negated quantifiers and inverse scope of negation in Romance 59
- Evidence for the competition-based analysis of subjunctive obviation from relative and adverbial clauses in Italian 75
- Quotative expansions 93
- Datives, prepositions, and argument structure in Spanish 125
- A typology of agreement processes and its implications for language development 143
- On the syntax of focalizers in some Italo-Romance dialects 157
- The phonotactics of word-initial clusters in Romance 175
- Double object constructions in Spanish (and Catalan) revisited 193
- Cognitive economy, non-redundancy and typological primacy in L3 acquisition 217
- L1 acquisition of noun ellipsis in French and in Dutch 249
- Index 267
